Editorial Policy

Who writes our articles

Articles are published under the name StartWright Editorial Team. Drafts are written with the help of AI writing tools, then checked against their sources and approved by a person before they are published. We do not invent authors, credentials, customer stories, income results or personal experience running a business.

How we choose sources

1. Official government sources: each state's Secretary of State (or equivalent) for business filings and fees, the IRS for EINs, tax classification and nonprofits, the U.S. Small Business Administration, the Census Bureau, the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the USPTO.
2. Published list prices and industry associations for equipment and other startup costs.
3. Established industry publishers' estimates only where neither of the above exists, labeled as estimates.

Forums, social media and anonymous blogs are not cited as evidence. Every fee, rate and cost figure comes from a cited source; if we cannot verify a number, we leave it out rather than guess.

Fees, taxes and dates

• State filing fees come only from official state websites. Our LLC fee table and each state guide show the month we last checked, and we recheck every state at least once a quarter.
• Pages quoting fees or rules say "as of" the date they were checked. Rules change; confirm with the agency before you file.
• Startup cost figures are ranges built from individual sourced cost lines, with the assumptions stated. They are planning estimates, not quotes.

What we will not publish

• Income promises such as "make $X a month". Earnings figures appear only as sourced ranges.
• "Best service" rankings for services we have not actually compared.
• Advice that depends on your personal legal or tax situation. Every article notes that it is general information, not legal or tax advice.

Do it yourself first

LLC and nonprofit guides explain how to file directly with the state and the IRS. Paid formation or registered agent services are mentioned only as an option after those steps, with a note that they charge their own fee on top of the state fee.

Images

Article header images are illustrative scenes made for this site with AI image tools; they are not photos of real businesses or people. Charts and diagrams are drawn by us from the cited sources.

Opinions

Each article ends with an "Our Take" section. It is clearly an opinion based on the sources cited.

Updates and corrections

The "Updated" date only changes for substantive edits. Factual corrections are listed on ourcorrections page; to report an error, contact us.

Advertising and affiliate links

Ads and affiliate links never decide what we write. Pages with affiliate links say so at the top. Details are in ouraffiliate disclosure.